I actually helped with some of the development of this product, so let me clear up a few questions:
You have to calibrate the laser dot spacing against a ruler anyway, so you don't save the cost or weight of carrying around a ruler.
The lasers are coaligned in their case and are calibrated at manufacture to be exactly one inch apart up to a distance of roughly 20 feet. Each unit is tested before it goes out the door.
The calibration is only good at ONE distance and perpendicular to the lasers
The lasers are one inch apart up to around 20 feet, at which point they start to spread. The laser scaling device is meant as a quick reference scale, not an exact scale of measurement for small items.
Rulers and tape measures can be used to measure other things, that lasers can't- like skew distances, or circumferences
Yes, but if you're taking thousands of pictures in one sitting, it sure does help if you don't have to place scales in every picture.
Rulers always show up as the right brightness on a photograph. Lasers have to be adjusted in brightness to match the scene, and may wash out if a flash is used
The laser doesn't work in every circumstance. Neither does a ruler, actually.
Red laser light is not too visible if the object is like, red, or covered with blood.
...and if you're in a crime scene that's covered in blood, it's not the best idea to charge through the room so you can place a scale next to evidence.
The beauty of tabbed browsing becomes apparent when you have a bookmarks folder full of your favorite sites in firefox and you right click and select 'open in tabs' and 20+ of your favorite sites open in a single window for you to peruse while you drink your morning coffee.
It's less about the individual file sharers and targetted more for lawsuits against the companies hosting and creating file sharing software. The idea being that Kazaa and others will now be forced to require valid e-mail addresses to gain access to the network.
The water on mars is most likely going to be very salty as a result of the high mineral concentration. Rather than pioneer that technology in space and ship people off to Mars, why not:
a) Make desalinazation plants and huge pipes from the ocean into the sahara and turn the desert into more usable land.
b) Build undersea colonies, using the same desalinization technology. You don't even have to pipe the water very far.
c) Build heated and covered colonies in the arctic and antarctic.
Any of these would be cheaper than Mars, require less resources and are closer to where people actually live. Mars is neat, but the technologies we need could be used much more efficiently on earth before we fire ourselves off into space.
If a kit with instructions were straightforward enough, people in poorer countries with moderate climates could grow their own bikes, or pick up the bamboo from a local market or farmer. It looks like most the metal parts are standard or slightly modified bicycle parts that should be fairly easy to stumble across. Rather than buy a marked up bike from a middle man, someone could craft a decent alternative for very little. I don't know think mass-production would be this bikes best route to market.
Does anybody know how they determine who is truly at fault here? I mean, if someones 14 year old son downloads a few gigs of music, wouldn't the person who's name the internet connection is under (i.e. the parent) actually face the charges? It doesn't seem like there's a way to determine who actually broke the law in some of these cases. How about in a situation where roommates share a computer and/or internet connection. Do they all get charged for the crimes of the one?
Honestly, with the amount of money that Kuroshin has generated over the past few days, $100,000 from Slashdot users to make a/.rocket should be easy. Who cares what we stick up there. Let's just do it because we can.
While we're up there, someone could drop a huge EMP pulse down to the planet surface for the ultimate slashdotting...
Where does the Star Wars Holiday Special play into that? Oh, and the Muppet Show and Sesame Street appearances, not to mention the two cartoon series (Ewoks and Droids)? Maybe Lucas could just combine the footage from all those sources and give Star Wars one good last kick in the groin before he dies.
Lewis and Clark weren't sent across the continental United States for Gold or any other reason. They were sent to pave the way for others. To see what was there and find what might be of value, scientifically, economically or otherwise.
Sending a manned mission to Mars is similar. The first astronauts may not set up a McDonalds, but they're exploring and gathering information on what eventually COULD return their investments.
Slashdot Mirror
I actually helped with some of the development of this product, so let me clear up a few questions:
You have to calibrate the laser dot spacing against a ruler anyway, so you don't save the cost or weight of carrying around a ruler.
The lasers are coaligned in their case and are calibrated at manufacture to be exactly one inch apart up to a distance of roughly 20 feet. Each unit is tested before it goes out the door.
The calibration is only good at ONE distance and perpendicular to the lasers
The lasers are one inch apart up to around 20 feet, at which point they start to spread. The laser scaling device is meant as a quick reference scale, not an exact scale of measurement for small items.
Rulers and tape measures can be used to measure other things, that lasers can't- like skew distances, or circumferences
Yes, but if you're taking thousands of pictures in one sitting, it sure does help if you don't have to place scales in every picture.
Rulers always show up as the right brightness on a photograph. Lasers have to be adjusted in brightness to match the scene, and may wash out if a flash is used
The laser doesn't work in every circumstance. Neither does a ruler, actually.
Red laser light is not too visible if the object is like, red, or covered with blood.
...and if you're in a crime scene that's covered in blood, it's not the best idea to charge through the room so you can place a scale next to evidence.
The beauty of tabbed browsing becomes apparent when you have a bookmarks folder full of your favorite sites in firefox and you right click and select 'open in tabs' and 20+ of your favorite sites open in a single window for you to peruse while you drink your morning coffee.
It's as if a million slashdotters suddenly cried out in fear and then were 404'd.
The movie is already done and it's quite good.
http://www.daveschool.com/BATMAN/index.html
It's less about the individual file sharers and targetted more for lawsuits against the companies hosting and creating file sharing software. The idea being that Kazaa and others will now be forced to require valid e-mail addresses to gain access to the network.
Tang.
The water on mars is most likely going to be very salty as a result of the high mineral concentration. Rather than pioneer that technology in space and ship people off to Mars, why not:
a) Make desalinazation plants and huge pipes from the ocean into the sahara and turn the desert into more usable land. b) Build undersea colonies, using the same desalinization technology. You don't even have to pipe the water very far. c) Build heated and covered colonies in the arctic and antarctic.Any of these would be cheaper than Mars, require less resources and are closer to where people actually live. Mars is neat, but the technologies we need could be used much more efficiently on earth before we fire ourselves off into space.
If a kit with instructions were straightforward enough, people in poorer countries with moderate climates could grow their own bikes, or pick up the bamboo from a local market or farmer. It looks like most the metal parts are standard or slightly modified bicycle parts that should be fairly easy to stumble across. Rather than buy a marked up bike from a middle man, someone could craft a decent alternative for very little. I don't know think mass-production would be this bikes best route to market.
Does anybody know how they determine who is truly at fault here? I mean, if someones 14 year old son downloads a few gigs of music, wouldn't the person who's name the internet connection is under (i.e. the parent) actually face the charges? It doesn't seem like there's a way to determine who actually broke the law in some of these cases. How about in a situation where roommates share a computer and/or internet connection. Do they all get charged for the crimes of the one?
My chances of getting laid this year just increased! I may even pass college with this much free time on my hands!
nobody has even "imagined a beowulf cluster of these!" Woo hoo! Frist Psot! ...ok, I'm done. Mod me straight to hell please.
Honestly, with the amount of money that Kuroshin has generated over the past few days, $100,000 from Slashdot users to make a /.rocket should be easy. Who cares what we stick up there. Let's just do it because we can.
While we're up there, someone could drop a huge EMP pulse down to the planet surface for the ultimate slashdotting...
Where does the Star Wars Holiday Special play into that? Oh, and the Muppet Show and Sesame Street appearances, not to mention the two cartoon series (Ewoks and Droids)? Maybe Lucas could just combine the footage from all those sources and give Star Wars one good last kick in the groin before he dies.
Lewis and Clark weren't sent across the continental United States for Gold or any other reason. They were sent to pave the way for others. To see what was there and find what might be of value, scientifically, economically or otherwise.
Sending a manned mission to Mars is similar. The first astronauts may not set up a McDonalds, but they're exploring and gathering information on what eventually COULD return their investments.